John Ruskin once remarked, â€œTaste is not only a part and index ofmorality, it is the only morality. The first, and last, and closest trialquestion to any living creature is â€˜What do you like?â€™ Tell me what youlike, Iâ€™ll tell you what you are.â€ This assumed link between oneâ€™s tasteand oneâ€™s identity is commonly employed in the nineteenth century novel asdescriptive passages of domestic settings purport to provide materialillustrations of charactersâ€™ inner lives. Beyond demonstrating classstatus, material objects are presumed to also serve as manifestations ofmoral and intellectual identity. Dickensâ€™ depiction of the dirty anddisheveled Jellyby home, for example, stands as an unmistakable testamentto Mrs. Jellybyâ€™s failures as a homemaker, mother and woman.

This panel will address the materiality of the home as presented in theVictorian novel to explore the relationship between domestic space andcharacter development. I am interested in papers which contest theassumptions behind Ruskinâ€™s position on the inherent link between tasteand identity as well as those which give subtlety to our understanding ofhow identity is exemplified or created through a preference for particularmaterial goods which are chosen for the home. Specifically, how are homesand the goods therein extensions of the self, be that a â€œrealâ€ or â€œidealâ€self? How are material objects employed to give readers evidence ofimmaterial qualities of identity? How and why do novelists such asDickens rely on the trope that â€œgoodâ€ characters have â€œniceâ€ homes andvice versa? Is it always true that â€œniceâ€ homes emerge out of charactersâ€™goodness and distasteful residences betray their ownersâ€™ immorality, orare homes artificially created spaces that can be manipulated throughmaterial consumption?

While much of the current interest in materiality in Victorian studiesaddresses the object in arenas of the public sphere such as themarketplace or museum, this panel will look at those â€œthingsâ€ whichpopulate the most intimate and sacred of spaces in the Victorianimagination, the home. I seek to develop our understanding of themotivations for and methods of decorating the Victorian home, bothphysical domiciles and literary structures. How did the rise in both thevariety of domestic goods available and access to those commodities affectthe way Victorian consumers and novelists imagined domestic spaces? Ifhome is where the heart is, how is the heart of a character put on displayin the process of filling personal space? This panel seeks interrogationsof all domestic spaces, be they conventional family homes or unexpectedresidences, areas established for public consumption such as parlors anddining halls or private chambers closed to all but the readersâ€™ eyes,finest family seats of the fashionable elite or humble, makeshift hovelsof the lowliest of citizens.